It's time for a Qantas QF10 London to Perth review in Business Class by lux-traveller. The longest flight from the UK, and up the pointy end, so sit back and relax for this QF10 trip report; the second part of our trip report on the direct UK to Australia.
The famous Qantas QF10 London Heathrow to Perth using the Boeing 787 Dreamline is well known for being almost the longest route on the planet: just a decade ago we couldn't imagine flying direct to Australia non-stop. Now it is routine, at least for us at lux-traveller.
After having taken the flight six times in the past eight months in economy, we at Lux-Traveller still can't quite get our head around it. Part one, the Qantas Perth to London economy review highlighted just how dull it can be. The upshot: the Qantas Boeing 787 is a lovely aircraft, but the narrowness of the seat compared to the A380 doesn't make for an easy flight.
There is however a much more comfortable way to fly - Business Class, direct UK to Australia.
Admittedly, it's not cheap: from the UK a return in Business to Perth costs £7,000 GBP , from Perth it's $14,000 AUD return, while or if you book from parts of Europe connecting via Heathrow, the price comes down to only £2800 in Business. Oddly, flying all the way to Melbourne rather than Perth seems to reduce the price. If you want to use points to upgrade, it's a mere 100,000, each way.
The departure time of the Qantas Dreamliner London to Perth is great. With an early afternoon departure from London you can get some work done in the city in the morning, and still make it home in Melbourne or Sydney by the following evening. Alternatively, a laid-back morning, to Paddington on the Heathrow express, and you're at check-in as it opens at 10am, giving a good three hours at Qantas' new gin bar.
There were several passengers in the Business Class queue checking-in ahead of me, so it took a good 20 minutes to get a boarding pass. I'd failed to do this online, or at the machines at Heathrow, as the computer returned an incomprehensible error. However, the check in staff also managed to find me a window seat, and I was ready to go to the Qantas London lounge.
Qantas Business Class Lounge
I counted however without security at Heathrow, which took a good 40 minutes, even with fast-track access. However, that gave me a good two hours in the new lounge, which is superb, as lux-traveller has already reviewed.
As I started my QF10 London to Perth review I noted sleep scientists were consulted, and recommend moving your body clock forward as much as possible before the flight, and as such the lounge was already serving Brunch from ten am, and the bar was open - indeed, both of them, as there is a gin bar downstairs, plus a sit-down restaurant, and a cocktail bar upstairs.
On the menu options included squid and noodles, however I went for a scrambled egg and salmon croissant. This was unusual, but pleasant, as was the French sparkling wine, and the green ant gin.
Afternoon tea was served in the lounge from midday, with scones and jam, giving a pleasant late afternoon atmosphere, before boarding at 1pm.
There was no queue at the gate, and I settled into my window seat - 8A - which was to be my home for the next 18 hours on currently the world's longest Boeing 787 flight, the Qantas Dreamliner business class London to Perth.
Immediately after boarding the crew took my jacket and offered a pre-departure glass of champagne.
Qantas Boeing 787 Business Class Seat
The Boeing 787 Qantas Business Seat, designed by David Caon, is really rather good. Every seat has aisle access, and there is a retractable privacy screen for the middle seats. See Lux-Traveller's Qantas 787 business class review of the seats.
Each seat has a large TV screen, and noise reducing headsets, which hang on a hook in the shelf. The TV is touchscreen, but you can also access it with a remote in the armrest. There is a USB and a mains power socket, and plenty of places to keep your tablet, laptop, and water bottle.
Before takeoff the crew came around with amenity kits; they are in the new Qantas style with stars on the bag.
Plus, menus for the main part of the voyage, and breakfast cards for landing in 16 hours time. This is a good feature, as it means you can pre-order ahead and not worry about waking up and studying a menu.
Taxing took an age around Heathrow, but included a good view of Concorde, and then we took off on a calm sunny day, with great views over Kent and the English Channel. At this point the crew handed out pyjamas, with the classic kangaroo logo.
Qantas Boeing 787 Business Class Meals
Then it was time to browse the menu. Being such an ultra long flight, the timing of the meals differs to a usual flights such as the QF1 via Singapore, where there is dinner on take off, and breakfast on landing.
Instead, as noted QF10 trip reports, despite being nearly twice as long, there are still only two meals, but spaced out with the assumption that you'll eat in the lounge before boarding - a meal which despite being at 11am becomes a pre-flight lunch. Therefore, you'll want dinner about 3 hours into the flight at 4pm, before sleeping, and breakfast 3 hours before landing, getting dinner on the five hour domestic hop over to Melbourne or Sydney.
As lux-traveller has previously noted, Qantas has worked with the Charles Perkins Institute and Qantas chef Neil Perry to ease the experience of ultra-long-haul flying by having lighter dining options in the air. This also helps with the QF10 weight problems. And therefore, dinner when it arrives is also light.
Menu options on the Qantas Dreamliner business class London to Perth included:
Aperitivo
- Cheddar quiche
Start
- Fennel soup with lemon and dill
- Spinach dumplings
- Chicken and pickled zucchini salad
Main
- Pork cutlet with savoy cabbage, potatoes and beans
- Eggplant parmigiana with broccolini
- Jiangxi cod with rice
- Spiced lamb and pumpkin, olives and couscous
- Neil's vinaigrette over green leaf salad.
Finish
- Cheese
- Eton mess
- Ice cream
Mid Flight
- Minestrone pot pie
- Welsh rarebit
- Beef croquettes with mint yoghurt
- Eggplant dip and cudites
Breakfast
- Poached egg with quinoa and salmon and peas
- Mushroom with polenta and tomato
- French toast with yoghurt
- Goats cheese omelette and mushrooms
- Macadamia toasted muesli with cranberries
Indeed, we're well past France and into Germany, about an hour into the flight before the crew start taking orders from the menu: and immediately it was clear there was a problem: only a few more meals had been loaded than passengers, so two of my options were already gone, despite sitting only about half way though the Business section: the crew said I was lucky and at the back there would be pretty much only one option left for each passenger.
Partly, this is Qantas economics, of not loading more meals than there are passengers, and partly as the crew explained it was about weight: a few extra meals on an A380 doesn't matter so much, but on a 787 operating at ultra-long range, and the weight becomes crucial. Any QF10 London to Perth review does always mention the long gaps between meals.
At 90 minutes in, drinks service began with a trolley from the front, and nuts. Qantas has its own signature cocktail on this flight, the 'Aperitivo', which is tequila with an apple and raspberry mix, which is very bitter.
This comes with a small quiche.
I was curious about this - but it became clear this was to keep passengers happy in the long wait for food, as well as spinning out the meal service for as long as possible.
The three crew in the business cabin were certainly stretched. After drinks, a green rocket salad and bread were delivered almost half an hour before the entree, which appears at the two hour mark. I selected the fennel soup with lemon and dill, which is great: strongly seasoned with a dash of real cream.
But then to my surprise the crew said they only had one salad left, and offered it to me, as I didn't get my other options. The salad is equally tasty, with pleasant small pieces of aubergine and chicken. The salad dressing has a palm sugar base that complements the chicken nicely.
It's a good 45 minutes before the main course arrives, but it is a delight.
The pork cutlet with savoy cabbage, potatoes and beans is thankfully a generous serving, considering it is nearly five hours since my early lunch.
An hour after this, and it's time for the cheese plate. Except the crew tell me they have run out, and offer me more wine instead.
Surely Qantas can't have fewer cheese plates than they do passengers? But they do.
Next up, Eaton Mess for desert, which is one of the best I've had on a plane, about 5 hours in when we are leaving Europe for the middle east.
Deserts keep on coming - there is ice cream in a tub. Then the tea run, with chocolates, and finally a cup of hot chocolate with marsh mallows.
This is a great way to settle down to sleep: it may only be 6pm UK time by this point, but it feels like I've had a large and satisfying dinner, which is exactly what Qantas' sleep designers intended.
Sleep. However, is elusive.
Qantas 787 inflight entertainment
So once more time to explore the Qantas inflight entertainment options. Qantas have increased the number of boxed sets on board, but are still somewhat lacking when it comes to the latest blockbusters. They are there, but they are dotted around, but with many dross type films of little interest.
The Qantas 787 is also not fitted with wifi, again to reduce weight: I realise this is the longest I've been off the net in a decade. It's quite odd wondering what is going on down below in interweb limbo land.
A couple of beers (Boags is served in the Business cabin) and a couple of films, and finally, around 9pm UK time, I'm ready to sleep. The Qantas pyjamas come in handy as it's quite chilly by now. There is a mattress topper for the seat, which evens out the humps, and proves to be really quite comfortable. To enable passengers to sleep, the cabin lights remain off all the way to Perth, although I notice many of the passengers continue watching films long into the night as we fly above Iran and the Gulf.
I wake up after five hours sleep, feeling remarkably fresh: the higher air pressure of the 787 makes it feel like it is at a lower altitude, which helps a lot, as does the higher humidity in the cabin so my skin feels less dried out.
Qantas Boeing 787 Mid flight snacks
After ten hours flying it feels like breakfast time to me, and I take a wander to the small inflight snack bar, on the left of the aircraft beside the small galley. It has wine, and even the spirt bottles are left out, but no beer. Plus, there is chocolate, biscuits and chips, dips and crudites.
However, I'd prefer something from the mid-flight menu. There are three options, but the crew seem oblivious when I order the Welsh Rarebit and warn me it could be half an hour before they can warm it up for me. Which is fine, but when it arrives I find I've been served the beef croquettes with mint yogurt instead.
Which are OK, but I ask for the rarebit again, and the crew confirm that I want more croquettes. No, I ask for the rarebit. "Oh, croquettes?" comes the reply. I can't understand why the crew are deliberately mishearing my request and steering me away from the rarebit, until they say there are none left - which is odd, as I haven't seen anyone else ordering it. Indeed, the crew make sure that you can't.
I ask the crew again to check, and repeat again that I want the rarebit, and the crew member finally seems to understand that is what I want, and as he goes to the galley I follow, and find five in a drawer untouched: I'm unclear as to why the crew tried so hard to avoid serving this to me, as when it arrives it is by far the best item on the menu. Lovely, cheesy, and with Worcestershire sauce sprinkled on top. Just what you needed hours into the flight, and adds an extra star to this Qantas 787 business class review.
After eleven hours flying time I start working my way through some writing, of this QF10 trip report. The table has plenty of room for a laptop and ipad, and there are mains power (UK style plug plus Australian) and a USB charging port. However, the table is a little high to type comfortably. Thankfully the USB is a full 2 amps and charges my ipad quickly.
A further three hours on, and two hours before landing, all the window blinds are automatically raised, and the cabin fills with light, as the breakfast service begins.
Breakfast is a step down from dinner, but there is still plenty of quantity. Even though offered as a separate item on the main menu, rather than the breakfast one, the pastry, a croissant, and muesli all arrive together on one tray.
After a few minutes so does the famous Qantas 'Wake Up Juice'. I've no idea why it looks so bad, but it is invigorating after so long in one seat, which I guess is the point.
I have to wait another half an hour before my egg and salmon breakfast arrives. This may seem a little odd for breakfast, but as we will be landing in Perth after lunchtime, it is perhaps not surprising that some passengers treat it as so, and there is a tinkle of champagne glasses around the cabin.
While breakfast is being served the crew gather up the blankets and mattress toppers, and then we begin our decent. It's lovely, with a gentle curve over Rottnest Island, and then head into Perth over Freemantle on a warm spring afternoon.
We're exactly on time, and in the last ten minutes before landing the crew give very complex instructions for those continuing on Q10 to Melbourne, or transferring onto a Domestic flight to Sydney, which was my case.
After landing I walk up the jetway feeling quite refreshed; the exact opposite of the flight to London. It's clear that the better air in the cabin of the Qantas Boeing 787 has a part to play, as does the higher humidity, so I don't feel as dried out as on the A380. A quick visit to the lounge, a shower, a quick five-hour domestic hop to Sydney on Boeing 747 (a rare case of the Jumbo still being used for a domestic service), and I arrive in time for dinner and bed.
Qantas 787 Business Class review
The standout benefit of the Qantas Dreamliner business class London to Perth is that the flight times are good, getting to Australia with just one overnight, but most credit goes to the design of the meals, and times, which moves your body clock along quickly, so I didn't suffer the horrendous jetlag normally associated with the later Qantas flight (on the A380 via Singapore), which arrives in Sydney at 5am. Instead the late evening arrival makes it much more bearable.
No wonder Qantas are selling out the Business cabin on the 787 direct London to Perth flights. Admittedly fares are steep, but to conclude my QF10 London to Perth review, the Boeing 787 is worth it.
See the full Qantas 787 business class trip report QF10 video:
The trip in reverse, in economy:
Lux-traveller paid its own way for this Trip Report on Qantas from London to Perth, and travelled incognito.
Qantas 787 business class QF10 London to Perth
Loungeindex
Trip Report: Qantas 787 Perth to London in economy
Qantas Melbourne Business Class Lounge opens
Trip Report: Qantas A380 Premium Economy to Sydney
The long haul Down Under as Qantas goes direct London to Perth